I appreciate the 'dialed in' part.. thanks.
Yes, as a LCAL guy I am NOT aware of the sometimes tense history of LUnited. That being said, management at LCAL was not all roses and sunshine either.
So now we have an issue-
What did LUAL ALPA do or not do, what did the company claim and what went down in the courts?

Look, lets me brutally honest here for a second.
Stating 'Fly The Contract' in itself should mean nothing. No different than saying "have a nice day", "have a safe flight", "Fly Professionally". It's just a term, a couple of words.. so what.
Kinda like how we brief a V1 cut during the departure brief, or the go-around procedure during the arrival brief. Just a nice memory jogger.

Now, if.. because of something that happened a long time ago some people in the union leadership are worried about me (and others) saying it.. so what.
When was that?
Who were the players involved?
You have brought up 'vindictive and dishonest the company can and WILL be if they sense even an inkling of a change in status quo'.
Are those players still around?
Or do you believe that management will ALWAYS be that way?

The cultural change at our airline brought about by Oscar Munoz and facilitated by ALPA has been a large part of our success. With the impending change in CEO leadership, Oscar will hand Scott Kirby a profitable, streamlined, and efficient company with good labor relations.
Taken from yesterdays union email.
If we have been "Flying The Contract" all this time, and we have good labor relations... what changes?

Yes, I get that there will ALWAYS be the handful of hotheads out there that try to rock the boat. Hell, someone posted on here about NOT doing single engine taxi, APU usage, not extending.
I strongly posted against that.
However..
Not doing single engine taxi is actually not part of the contract. I'd argue it's part of the FOM and SOP.
Same with APU usage. As for as extending.. the contract gives you the option to do it knowing that in some cases, you will get compensated for it and in other cases you will not.
Just Fly The Contract. Extend if you're not fatigued and willing to get paid/not get paid.

IF we ever get pulled into court over something a few individuals wrote on a forum, I would expect a strong defense from both ALPA Lawyers AND private lawyers. But to say that because a handful of guys did something stupid 10+ years ago and a court made a bad ruling.. we can NEVER write/say "Fly The Contract" is ludicrous (in my opinion).

Sometimes being a strong unionist isn't about wearing a pin.. or wearing your uniform at 100% compliance (LOL.. those on UAL Pilot Forums will get it), it's about taking a stand and just doing the right thing.
Flying Safe, Flying Professionally and Flying the Contract is doing the right thing. IF someone is saying Yes to the first 2 but don't say the 3rd... they are afraid to take up the fight. In the sense that just saying or writing those words is not a bad thing.

Thread drift (LOL.. what this is doing in the 73Max thread I do not know!)
In Iran, there are places where the US Flag is painted on the ground to 'encourage' people to walk on our Flag.
Seen videos lately where people are DELIBERATLY walking around so as to NOT step on the US Flag.
It's a small token.. and someone had to start it.. but it has meaning behind it.

I wish our Union had written-
FLY SAFE, FLY PROFESSIONALLY & FLY THE CONTRACT when the TA was approved back in Dec 2012.
Or again with the extension.
I wish ALPA National had that as their motto.

But until they do, I'll do it myself!
Always
FS, FP & FtC

PS) The company should ALSO promote that! They should want us to Fly Safely, Professionally and Contractually as it promotes a healthy company. Nothing wrong with flying the FOM, the SOP's, the contract and the FAR's. Makes the whole system work~